Five Things to Do With an Old Tube Television

It makes us shudder, and then chuckle, when we see it, but sometimes we walk in to a space to do a walk-through and provide an estimate for a complete audio visual system upgrade, and we see them… Tube televisions dangling precariously from metal mounts, all of it installed circa 1989.

If we were writing a post titled “5 Signs It’s Time for an Audio Visual Upgrade” the existence of tube televisions anywhere in your venue would be number one on the list.

::Makes note on our editorial calendar whiteboard::

But what do you do with those old tube TVs once they’re pulled down off the wall to make room for shiny new plasma or LED monitors? Here are three ideas we came up with sitting in traffic on the G.W. Bridge between jobs. (If they’re a bit off the wall, so to speak, blame the heat from those outdoor audio installations we’ve completed lately.)

Donate them to a museum.

Somebody, somewhere, is going to look at that old Zenith as a valuable antique relic someday. Bonus points if the TV has a dial instead of a digital display and remote control.

Make redneck planters for your yard. We’re sure you’ve seen those planters made out of toilet bowls. But we’re New Yorkers, not rednecks. We can go one step better. Carefully break the glass screen, pull out the innards, and put a clay pot filled with your favorite perennials right inside the TV. Wife said no? Proceed to idea number 3.

Store them in your attic to show your kids how hard it used to be, before techorating, when a television could take up half the living room. Again, if there’s an old dial (that only goes up to Channel 13), and no remote control, this idea is even better. Just make sure to follow proper lifting technique when you haul your television up to the attic or, better yet, ask a few very close friends to help. Hmm… that planter suddenly isn’t sounding so bad anymore, is it?

Sell it at a garage sale. Because maybe someone reading this is just yearning for a TV planter for their garden.

Let JD Pro recycle it for you. When you bring us on to upgrade the audio visual systems in your hospitality venue, corporate facility, or even to install your new home theatre system, we’ll recycle all your old AV gear, free of charge. Even if we’re not designing and installing your systems, you can drop your old audio visual equipment off at our Staten Island office, and we’ll recycle it for you through our partnership with Empire Recycling. Because we’re not big on whimsical planters, either.

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JD Systems™ is a team of licensed, insured audio visual designers and installers, specializing in sound and video system engineering, design and installation. We provide free, no-risk consultations and honest estimates for commercial and residential audio video installations.